Unexpected Harmony

4. Open Door

Chapter 4

Open Door

T he last notes of the piano rang out around Aspen's living room as she finished a song. She pressed her fingers on the keys, proud to have gotten this far. It had been weeks since she'd been able to even look at a piano, but a whisper of a song had started a few moments ago, and instead of shying away from the instrument, Aspen grabbed it and let the song fly. It was rough, to say the least, but it was something. After the bout of silence, she'd take anything right now.

The breeze from the open back door tickled her neck. It wasn't until her stomach rumbled that she realized she hadn't eaten since the night before. The bench she was sitting on scraped across the hardwood as Aspen stood to walk to the kitchen.

Humming a tune, she tried to think about what she'd learned the last few weeks as she made a sandwich. It had been a challenge to adjust to the lack of people around her space; however, now that she had it, she was afraid that going back to the city would be overwhelming. There was something about the serenity of peace she’d found here that had been sorely lacking in her life.

When a tune from the piano filtered in from the living room, Aspen put her sandwich on the counter and grabbed the first thing she saw, which happened to be a wooden spoon. Her grandma had done some serious damage with the unobtrusive kitchen utensil, but she'd also been a scrawny kid at the time. Her hand slid over her phone as she edged around the corner.

As she walked toward the sound, Aspen knew she should have felt more trepidation. Aspen paused, more curious than afraid, when she realized what she was hearing was the song she'd just been playing, complete with the fumble of her fingers in the middle. Confused, she checked her phone, seeing it was dark and not, in fact, playing a song she hadn't even recorded in the first place.

Tentatively stepping around the wall to get a clearer view of her piano, Aspen’s confusion intensified when she saw a boy rocking on her bench with his eyes closed, playing the song she'd made up moments earlier.

A brown curl fell, covering his eye as Aspen looked on, frozen with indecision. He didn't seem like a fan; in all likelihood, he hadn't realized which house he’d stepped into. Her shoulders relaxed a smidge, but that still left a ton of questions, like where were his parents?

The song changed the third run-through, the notes that had only been a whisper when she'd started now solidified into something beautiful. A lyric slid into her mind.

How dare you make me need you when I left my dreams shattered in the bed.

The lyrics fit easily into the new tune, although the idea was a delicate butterfly wing.

For a moment, Aspen had a horrible thought that this kid was being used as a pawn to gain access to her life. She swallowed bile, sick that she was unable to trust anyone. When someone new came into her orbit, her first thought was always mistrust, Because of that, she kept everyone at arm’s length. Maybe that's why she’d been feeling so rudderless lately. She’d been burned too many times to let just anyone in, but when forced to connect only with people she was familiar with, she was left with a life that had started to run stagnant.

Stepping closer to the piano, Aspen finally spoke. “What are you doing here?”

Her panic grew when the kid said nothing, continuing to play as if she hadn't spoken at all.

She was about to step towards him, ready to demand more answers, when a wild-haired beauty framed her back door, scanning the room and yelping when her eyes landed on the boy.

Aspen watched the woman run to the kid without checking the room. That dissipated her fears that this had been a setup a little bit, but not enough to step forward willingly.

“Theo, what are you doing? Come on, we need to go. This isn't our house.” The woman's concerned tone loosened something in Aspen. She sounded desperate but gentle.

Watching from the corner of the room, hidden by shadows, Aspen told herself she was just making sure it was safe to come out. In the depths of her heart, though, she was curious about the woman and wanted time to cherish a few uninhibited moments before everything inevitably changed whenever someone met THE Aspen Lake . When had she become so cynical? Oh, right, probably around the time her girlfriend humiliated her in front of millions of fans.

But the woman across the room wasn’t her girlfriend. This woman's curly brown hair fell over her shoulder, windswept from the beach. She was wearing a polo with a logo Aspen couldn't read from her spot in the shadows and a tan, suggesting she worked outdoors.

The boy said nothing and didn't get up when the woman gently touched his shoulder. He finished the song, leaving his fingers on the keys as Aspen had done earlier. The last notes of the song echoed around them.

“Theo, come on. It's time to go. We shouldn't be here.” The woman's tone tried to project a sense of calm, but her shoulders were tense. Aspen watched as she cast her eyes around the room, landing on her hiding spot.

The woman gave a startled squeak, stumbling back and leaving the boy alone at the piano. She could not be his mother unless she’d had him at twelve, which wasn't out of the range of possibilities but still highly unlikely.

Aspen sighed, knowing everything would change now. She stepped out of the shadows but stayed close to the corner. “Hi, Theo. You're very talented.” She offered a smile, which he didn't return.

“How do you know his name?” the woman asked.

This lack of reaction had never happened before, and Aspen had gotten excellent at reading people. There was a slight widening of eyes when the woman got a good look at her, but that was it. This new interaction was intriguing as it was perplexing.

“You said it.” Aspen motioned to where she stood before, although the action felt silly. “Before, you said it a few times.”

The woman bonked her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Oh, right. Yeah. Umm.” She turned to Aspen, who got lost in her golden eyes and suddenly wanted to prolong this visit even further. “Sorry about this. Barging in and everything. Theo, come on.”

“I'm Aspen,” she blurted, sucking her lips in to keep from saying anything more embarrassing. Holding out her hand, she waited for the woman to give her a name.

Tentatively was the only way she could describe how slowly the woman reached out her hand. “I'm Zoey. It's nice to meet you.”

Polite, controlled, steady. All things Aspen didn't feel at the moment would describe Zoey perfectly. “Zoey, nice to meet you. And this is your brother?” She left the question hanging, hoping she could stay in Zoey's bubble a little longer. In this impossible situation, Aspen couldn't get over how comfortable she felt, which made her realize Zoey was someone worth getting to know.

“Yes. Theo, as you know. Umm, we should probably go.”

“He can speak for himself. Theo, do you want to play another song?” Aspen stepped closer, stopping when she saw Theo tense.

“He’s autistic and is nonverbal, so he won't say anything for himself,” Zoey said, leaving Aspen to work through what she had just learned. No wonder he hadn’t responded.

“Go ahead and play another song if you want,” Aspen offered. The song she was stumbling with earlier filled the room, the music flowing from Theo’s fingertips with ease. She turned to Zoey. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

Zoey looked behind her as if there was someone else in the room. “Oh, I'm all right. We've imposed on you enough. Thanks, though.”

“It's not an imposition, though, if I offer. Right?” Aspen countered, providing a smile.

“I'm so confused. Aspen Lake is offering me a beverage in the house my brother accidentally barged into?” Zoey scanned the area. “Did a riptide kill me, and this is a weird afterlife?” Her face scrunched up as she took in the sparse decorations.

If Aspen had any residual doubt that this was an elaborate ploy to get into her house, the suspicion flew away with Zoey's genuine look of confusion. It was perplexing as much as it was refreshing to have someone treat her so…normally.

There were some great actors out there, but all the stalkers Aspen had met could not hold a ruse for more than a beat. There was no overlap in the actor/stalker Venn diagram. No, this was an improbable situation that would have romance readers rolling their eyes at the unrealistic aspect of it all.

“I'd feel bad if you had to spend the first few moments of your ethereal trip in this awkward situation with me. So, let's try again from the top. I have water, juice, beer, soda, sparkling water, and tea. What's your poison?” Aspen asked, feeling weird pushing a beverage on a stranger, but she did want to know more about the mysterious Zoey.

“Water would be amazing. I forgot to rehydrate when I got home.” Zoey looked like she didn’t know what to do with her arms but landed on wrapping them around herself.

“One water coming up. Theo, do you want one?” she asked, making sure it was a yes or no question.

He shook his head, continuing to play. He seamlessly transitioned from the one she had been playing earlier to a new one with calm tones.

Aspen used the time to steady her racing heart while getting the water and putting her impromptu weapon back in its place. There was no need to hide behind ferocious wooden spoons. Unsure where the day would take them, but for the first time in years, excited for the prospect, Aspen reentered the living room.

Zoey hovered near her brother while waiting for Aspen to return with her water. If she thought she could have reasonably dragged Theo away from the house without causing a scene, she'd probably have done it, but as it stood now, Zoey had to process the fact that she was standing in a superstar's living room.

“Here you go.” Aspen's low voice, which made millions of people swoon as she sang, was soft as she held out a glass of water. “You look like you could use some cooling down.”

Did she just wink?

Zoey was glad her hand wasn’t shaking when she took the glass. “Thank you.” She looked away towards the nonexistent decorations. “You must not spend much time here.” She shut her eyes tightly. She’d been spending too much time alone and had forgotten how to converse.

Luckily, Aspen laughed. “No, I wasn't expecting to stay here. I thought it would only be for a few days, but here we are weeks later. Anyway, I’m sure you’ve heard about what happened.” She waved her hand like the story didn’t matter.

“No, I don't really follow stars' lives at all.” Zoey shrugged, taking a sip to have something to do.

“You must have been living under a rock, then, to have missed all the drama.” Aspen studied her. Zoey looked away first.

Not under a rock, but in a mental hospital. A psychological breakdown brought on by intense stress had caused Zoey to need inpatient help, but that wasn't something she was going to go into with Aspen Lake, especially since she was the one intruding in her house.

“Something like that.” Zoey finished her water in a few gulps. “Are you ready, Theo?” she asked, needing to get out of there as fast as humanly possible.

Unfortunately, her brother had other plans and was still playing. She knew he could go in the zone for hours and sincerely hoped this wouldn't be one of those times.

“Do you really not know?” Aspen had stepped closer than Zoey anticipated.

“Know what?” She was losing the thread of the conversation.

“I just assumed everyone and their mother knew by now.” Aspen had a unique way of studying a person. “How refreshing,” she added in a whisper.

Refusing to ask a third time, Zoey put her hands on Theo’s shoulders, who shrugged her off and continued playing.

Zoey caught her reflection in a large window. Instead of changing out of her work clothes like most people did when they got home, she was still sporting her capri pants and polo, which looked fine when she left the house this morning, but now they were sporting a day's shift of landscaping filth. Dirt, sweat, and an unidentifiable stain on her knee painted a stellar first impression. Her hair wasn't much better. Good thing she didn't expect to ever run into Aspen again. Of course she would look as scrubby as possible when meeting a celebrity. That was just how her life was going at this moment.

“So, what's on your logo there? Some sort of lawn care?” Aspen stepped closer, studying the patch on her polo. Zoey tried to ignore the fact that the patch was near her breast.

“It’s my mom’s company. She’s a landscape architect.”

Aspen's eyes widened at her words. “Perfect. I've been meaning to find a landscaper, and one falls into my lap. What are the chances? Can I hire you?”

Unsure how likely it was that Aspen actually needed a landscaper, Zoey rocked from one foot to the other. “I’ll have to ask my mom if she has time. I know she’s pretty filled up right now.”

“Do you have time? I'm sorry, but I don't know how landscaping works. Could I hire you specifically to do the work?”

“It all depends, but no matter what, I'll have to talk to my mom. We'll have to do a walkthrough of what you need, and depending on the time frame and what needs to be done, we might need a crew. I'll talk to her, though.” Zoey patted her pants pocket, pulling out a business card. “Here's the number. Go ahead and give her a call.” After seeing it bent and dirty, she wanted to rip the card back. Nothing about this interaction was giving off great first impression vibes, but Zoey watched helplessly as Aspen grabbed the crumpled card.

Zoey took in Aspen's expression, the confusion seeming out of place on the superstar’s face. “You don't know what to do with someone not jumping at the chance to do something for you, do you?” Zoey blurted—correctly, if Aspen's blush was any indication.

Straightening her shoulders, Aspen gave her a grin. One Zoey had seen a million times in all the magazines and interviews.

“Okay, I'll jump through your hoops if it means I get to see you again.” Aspen leaned against the wall but misplaced her foot. The picture frames rattled as she tried to straighten back up.

“Smooth,” Zoey teased, turning back to her brother. “You can try, but my mom will send me wherever I'm needed most. She doesn't play around, especially with her clients.”

The song her brother had segued into was something she hadn’t heard in a while. Getting lost in the notes, she flinched when Aspen walked up behind her.

“I can be very persuasive. That is, if you want the job?” she asked. Her voice trembled with insecurities that were odd to hear from a magnetic rock star.

“I suppose I wouldn’t mind seeing your face a few more times.” Zoey laughed at Aspen’s indignant expression. Her brother played the dun dun dun dun for dramatics. “All right, bro, it’s time to go. We’ve taken up enough of Aspen’s time.”

This time, her brother listened. He put his hands in his lap and stared at the keys.

“You’ve got real talent, Theo. The change you made in the middle of that first song improved the bridge.”

Zoey couldn't keep the grin off her face if she tried. Only a few people actually talked to her brother once they found out he didn't speak. They either assumed he couldn't hear or couldn't comprehend what they were saying. Having Aspen talk to him as she would any other person was a tick in the positive column.

“It was nice meeting you, Aspen.” Zoey waved before grabbing her brother's arm and walking out the door.

“See you soon, Zoey.”

Aspen's soft words followed her out as they made their way back to the beach. When they were close enough for her words to be carried out by the waves, she turned to her brother. “It's rude to walk into houses. There have been horror stories about people getting shot. We're lucky it was…” Zoey trailed off, unable to believe the house her brother randomly entered to play the piano was Aspen Lake’s.

Theo wasn't making eye contact, but she knew he heard her. “Let's get home.”

On her way home, Zoey contemplated what had happened. She didn't let Theo out of her sight, but she replayed the afternoon and made a mental note to look into what the heck Aspen was talking about. Something happened that she apparently should have known about.

Wincing as a barnacled rock dug into her foot, Zoey tried to figure out where she wanted to go from there. Luckily, celebrities didn't freak her out, or she would have been a blubbering mess in the stranger's living room.

“Come on, Theo. The car's up here.” Zoey weaved around the beach folks who were taking advantage of the last of the sun. She watched her brother closely as they made their way to the parking lot.

Swinging her keys along the tip of her finger, she slid into the driver's seat, waiting for Theo to buckle up. When she turned on the car, one of Aspen’s older songs started playing on the radio. Theo grinned, pointing at the speakers. Zoey’s laughter filled the car.

“You know what that is, little bro?” She put the car in reverse, placing her arm on Theo's headrest, and twisted to check behind her before backing out of the parking spot. “That is fate, my friend. Or the fact Aspen is that popular.” She ruffled his hair as she turned around, waiting for a dog to cross the path. “Want to get some ice cream?”

With her brother’s resounding nod, Zoey pulled forward, navigating to their favorite creamery.